Sunday, July 30, 2017

Heuristic #3: Coherent Stories (Associative Coherence)

We were given a packet full of heuristics that fast thinkers often fall subject to. People often make up explanations to events that was not previously planned called Coherent Stories (Associative Coherence). The explanations involve:

Assuming intention

Causality

Interpreting Providence

I see this happen all the time. Especially having religious family members. When something unexpected happens the usual saying I will hear is “God meant for it to be this way” or "God is sending me a sign"

This gets used a lot with stereotypes. For example, “She gets good grades in math because she's Asian.” There is a quick assumption that result B happens because of factor A. A critical thinker would factor A, B, C, etc. before a judgement is made.

Nothing is done by coincidence. Everything has a strict purpose and role.

People are so quick to assigning a reasoning for things in order to make sense of them. There are just things that happen throughout our lifetime that we will not have an answer or know the origin to.

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Pseudoscience and the Paranormal

The popular media and self-help industry is rife with extraordinary claims. Alien experimentation, psychic detectives, mediums, ESP, extreme therapies and miracle products are all examples of how pseudoscience and the paranormal have become prevalent, popular and even an extremely lucrative enterprise. The majority of these examples defy the basic laws of science, logic and common sense yet they appeal to a large number of people. Here we will use science, specifically a psychological perspective to explore these popular theories and claims, and learn to think critically in order to be able to constructively evaluate them.